Children’s Literature and Intergenerational Relationships: Encounters of the Playful Kind (Critical Approaches to Children's Literature)

Children’s Literature and Intergenerational Relationships: Encounters of the Playful Kind explores ways in which children’s literature becomes the object and catalyst of play that brings younger and older generations closer to one another. Providing examples from diverse cultural and historical contexts, this collection argues that children’s texts promote intergenerational play through the use of literary devices and graphic formats and that they may prompt joint play practices in the real world. The book offers a distinctive contribution to children’s literature scholarship by shifting critical attention away from the difference and conflict between children and adults to the exploration of inter-age interdependencies as equally crucial aspects of human life, presenting a new perspective for all who research and work with children’s culture in times of global aging. Acknowledgements Contents Notes on Contributors List of Figures List of Tables Chapter 1: Play, Children’s Literature, and Intergenerational Connectivity Works Cited Part I: Playground of Intergenerational Encounters: Text and Poetics Chapter 2: The Child Reader’s Playful Adventures in Wonderland Seemingly Response-Inviting Strategies Yet Response-Controlling Expressions The Playful Revenge of the Impostor Reader “Hold your tongue!” said the Queen (...). “I won’t!” said Alice. (AinW, 187) Works Cited Chapter 3: The Nature of Play and Adult-Child Interaction in the Alice Books and Coraline What Is Play? Play in the Alice Books and Coraline Intergenerational Play in the Alice Books and Coraline Works Cited Chapter 4: Embracing the Childlike in Picture Book Poetics Four Ordinary Bowls: From Play to Ethical Reflection Upon a Falling Star: Dreaming and Existential Reflection Conclusion Works Cited Chapter 5: Intergenerational Encounters in Contemporary Picturebooks Playfulness and Postmodernism Picturebooks and Playfulness Narrative Communication Playful Authors Playful Readers Conclusion Works Cited Part II: Playground of Intergenerational Encounters: Text and Beyond Chapter 6: Rabindranath Tagore’s Shey as a Playful Encounter Between a Poet and His Granddaughter What Is Shey? Who Is Shey (‘He’)? The Significance of Nonsense in Indian Culture Nonsense: The Artistic Expression of Play in Shey An Illustration Sound-Over-Sense “Play” in the Literary Machine Works Cited Chapter 7: How Fictional Representations of Intergenerational Play May Be Important for Child Readers: A Cognitive Approach Cognitive Criticism in Children’s Literature Studies Grandpa Green: A Cognitive-Critical Analysis Conclusion Works Cited Chapter 8: “How Did Child of Light Save Me?” Engagement with a Children’s Multimodal Game Narrative as Adult Play and Self-Therapy Sincerely and Speculatively Yours: Truthful and Imaginative Identity Positioning in Trauma Narratives “If Aurora Can Face Her Fears, I Can Too”: Intergenerational Identity Play in an Online Life Narrative Works Cited Part III: Challenging Normativities Chapter 9: No Adults in the Woods: Relationships Between Adults and Children During Outdoor Play in Award-Winning Picturebooks from the United States Outdoor and Intergenerational Play Current Research on Outdoor Play in the United States Selecting the Corpus of Award-Winning Books Critical Content Analysis of Award-Winning Children’s Literature from the United States Categories and Representations of Intergenerational Outdoor Play Disengaged Adults Adults Engaged in Parallel Play Caregivers as Environmentalists Ideologies Present in Books Depicting Intergenerational Outdoor Play Conclusion Works Cited Chapter 10: Don’t Tell the Parents! The Illicitness of Intergenerational Play Using Personal Construct Psychology as an Analytical Lens Keeping Secrets from the Parents: Play as Illegal Activity Keeping Secrets at School: Play as Covert Activity Conclusion Works Cited Chapter 11: Not Your (Ordinary) Grandma: Old Age in Three Contemporary Dutch Children’s Books Grandma the Pig Impotence and Incontinency Not Your Grandma From Parody to Progress Works Cited Chapter 12: Barbie Unbound: The Satirical Representation of the Barbie Doll as an Exemplification of Realism and the Crossover Attitude in Young Adult Literature New Realism, Young Adult, and “Crossover” Literature: A Critical Overview Barbie Unbound: Barbie Facing Teenage Problems Conclusion Works Cited Chapter 13: Deconstructing Stereotypes Through Reading Children’s Literature as Intergenerational Play: The Case of the Stepmother Intergenerational Relationships Based on Literature Awareness Raising Through Picture Books: A Didactic Experiment Diagnosis Literary and Awareness-Raising Intervention: Deconstructing Stereotypes Creative Practice: Constructing New Family Roles Results Diagnosis Literary and Awareness-Raising Intervention: Deconstructing Stereotypes Conclusion Works Cited Chapter 14: Family in Finnish Picturebooks: Playful Books Challenging the Normative Representation of Family Various Ways of Presenting Family Informative and Educative Books Declarative Books Postmodern and Expanding Books Challenging Dominant Discourses Through Playfulness Toward Reconceptualizing Family in a More Inclusive Framework Works Cited Index